US, Japan and Australia all set for Naval exercise with India, bold message to China
The stage is set for Australia to be part of the next Malabar naval exercise conducted by India with the US and Japan, with people familiar with developments saying the wargame’s expansion will complement growing strategic and security cooperation among the four countries.
The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated Australia’s inclusion in the trilateral exercise is only a matter of time, given burgeoning security and defence ties between New Delhi and Canberra. The next edition of Malabar, already delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, is set to be held by the end of the year.
However, the formal invitation to Australia is expected to be extended after some time in view of the delicate negotiations between India and China on disengagement and de-escalation to end their standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the people said. They noted there is still some time to go for holding the exercise.
When India and the US initially sought to expand the Malabar exercise in 2007 by inviting Australia, Japan and Singapore to participate, the move had not gone down well with China. That was the first and only time Australia joined the naval drills, which were begun in 1994 to increase interoperability between the Indian and US navies and enhance cooperative security relations between the two sides.
China has also been wary of the Quadrilateral security dialogue or Quad that was revived in late 2017 by India, the US, Australia and Japan, and these suspicions have increased since the four countries upgraded the forum to the ministerial level last year.
At a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Scott Morrison last month, India and Australia elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed the crucial Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) for reciprocal access to bases, medical and training facilities, spares and fuel.
Apart from this exercise, a US Navy carrier strike group, led by USS Nimitz, is expected to conduct maritime drills with Indian warships near Andaman and Nicobar Islands this week, against the backdrop of the India-China border standoff, people familiar with developments said on Monday.
The drills also come at a time when tensions have mounted over China’s activities in South China Sea, where the US Navy just conducted a major exercise.
The Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy is currently carrying out manoeuvres near Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The two navies will conduct a passage exercise near the islands to hone interoperability, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. USS Nimitz has transited the Malacca Strait and is on its way to the Persian Gulf, they said.
